Sunday, August 23, 2015

Hamilton wins Belgian Grand Prix from Pole

Lewis Hamilton started from pole to win the Belgian Grand Prix 2015 at spa.

This was the first race where the new driver assistance rules came into force and drivers had to decide their own clutch settings. So it was expected that a few drivers will face issues during start. If the clutch setting is not right, then there will be more revs and wheel spin and others will pull away. The predictions came true and it was Nico Rosberg who messed up his start. He was P2 in the starting grid and immediately fell down to P5. Lewis Hamilton however led from the start to win the race. Later on Nico Rosberg sped through and beat other cars by virtue of the superior pace of his Mercedes car and finished in 2nd position in the race. Romain Grosjean of Lotus finished in the podium after a torrid two years for Lotus.

Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was on a one stop race as Ferrari decided to take the gamble of one stop where the tyre supplier Pirelli had advised two stop race. It appeared that Vettel would score a podium but on the penultimate lap, his right rear tyre blew up ending his podium hopes. He was however classified to have finished in 12th.

Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull came in 4th. Sergio Perez of Force India finished in 5th. Felipe Massa of Williams was 6th. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari came in 7th. Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso finished in eighth. Valtteri Bottas of Williams was 9th. Marcus Ericsson of Sauber finished in 10th and last points paying position.

Felipe Nasr of Toro Rosso was 11th. He was followed by Vettel who got this position by virtue of retiring in the penultimate lap till then he was scheduled for a podium position.

Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button of McLaren finished in 13th and 14th position. They were both down by 1 lap. Roberto Merhi won the inter-Marussia battle to beat his teammate Will Stevens to finish in 15th and 16th positions respectively.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Lewis Hamilton on pole for the sixth consecutive race

Lewis Hamilton scores pole at Belgium F1 Grand Prix and led a 1-2 for Mercedes. This was the sixth consecutive pole position and matches the record of Michael Schumacher from 2000/2001.

Lewis Hamilton scored a 1 m 47.197 seconds run to the pole. His teammate Nico Rosberg scored a 1m 47.665 seconds which was a massive 0.468 seconds slower. In F1 half a second difference is huge.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams was third with a time of 1m 48.537 and was closely followed by Romain Grosjean of Lotus with a time of 1m 48. 561 for P4 and Sergio Perez of Force India with a time of 1m 48.599 for P5.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull came up with a time of 1m 48.639 and will start on 6th. He was followed by Felipe Massa with 1m 48.685.

Pastor Maldonado of Lotus followed with a time of 1m 48.754 and will start 8th. Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was P9 with a time of 1m 48. 825

Carlos Sainz was P10 with 1m 49.771

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India was P11. He is followed by Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull. Marcus Ericsson of Sauber was P13. Kimi Raikkonen who was recently confirmed to be retained by Ferrari for next year was P14. Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso is going to serve a 10 place penalty and score a P15.

Felipe Nasr of Sauber was P17. Jenson Button and Fernando will start from the back of the grid due to engine penalties but they score P17 and P18. Will Stevens of Marussia and his team-mate Roberto Merhi came in at 19 and 20.